Tallan T-Man Latz, Hubert Sumlin and the Willie “Big Eyes” Smith Band…

The appearance that almost didn’t happen……

Dawn, Ben and I met Carl and Tallan at this show that was sponsored by the Grafton Blues Association of which I am a member. The show was held at the Lakeview Convention Center in Port Washington this past Friday. If I have time, I’ll do a review of both Hubert and Willie’s show together along with the opening local band called “Maple Road” who were just excellent. We decided to meet around 6:00 PM at the venue.

As the night went along it was filled with both Blues/Rock and older Blues music. Hubert and Willie invited up several local guitar players who joined their band for a song or two. Usually they took “Little Frank’s” spot who provided both lead and rhythm guitar for Willie’s band. Little Frank has a Joe Bonamassa story himself, which I’ll share on the other review. As the night went along, it looked less and less likely that Tallan would get a chance to join Hubert and Willie on stage. Actually, there was a collection going to help sponsor and fund Tallan taking a trip down to Memphis for the National Blues Challenge with our local winner Sue DeBaco & Wise Fools, who won our local area Blues Challenge. At a little past 11:00 PM, Carl indicated that he and Tallan would head for home because it had been a long night. Both Dawn and Ben were very tired and so we decided to leave too. Carl and I were parked at opposite ends of the parking lot and it appeared the night was over.

That’s when I heard a voice call out, “Hey Roy!!” Gee, it sounded like Carl and sure enough it was. As I walked across the lot I saw Carl approaching and he said that it now appeared Tallan would go on stage. Apparently, no one thought that Tallan had brought his guitar. Can you imagine that? Tallan ALWAYS has a guitar with him. We entered the venue again and I took up position on the floor stage left. I set up my video recorder on my 4 inch tripod so I could shoot video while taking still pictures at the same time. Yes, I still have software video troubles and spent a good part of the weekend trying to get this blasted software to work. The pictures turned out fine.

Each time I have gotten the chance to see Tallan perform I must admit, I get a bit nervous for him. I always have it in the back of my mind that he may make a big mistake on stage. I’m sure Carl has seen Tallan every time he’s played and doesn’t appear to be nervous at all. And Tallan, well what can I say? He just wants to get up and show what he can do! Friday night was no exception; once Tallan took the stage the place went nuts. Hubert actually unplugged his guitar and allowed Tallan to plug directly into his amp. After a few short strokes of his guitar the band broke out into a song. Tallan blended in so well that honestly, if you would have closed your eyes, you would not have known someone eight years old was playing. As T-Man played off of Willie’s great harmonica work, Hubert simply sat back with his arms across his guitar and marveled and what the little man was doing. Occasionally, Tallan would lean into Hubert and it appeared Hubert was giving him some advice as Tallan was playing. After the first song, T-Man was having such a good time that he thought he’d stay for a second, shorter song and so Hubert graciously stayed seated. Hubert's closing remarks about Tallan to the crowd was, "Ladies and Gentlemen, you have just seen our future."

As Tallan left the stage and headed over to his dad and me, the applause was at its loudest of the night. Still seated on the floor, I raised my hand and Tallan slapped it giving me his normal “high five” for a job well done. I just can’t believe how very good this young man has gotten since the first time I saw him perform last December. He truly is a gift to music and to all of us. I hope someday you all can be at one of his shows; truly it would be worth seeing him live. Here are the photos and I will try another way to get the video downloaded:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8384830@N0 … 141400292/

Also, here are a few dates to write down concerning Tallan:

September 9th…The Bonnie Hunt Show in LA, CA. Tallan is scheduled to play and then join the house band for the rest of the show.

September 20th…The Paramount Blues Festival, Graton, WI. Tallan will make a special appearance between Bryan Lee and Watermelon Slim.

Spetember 22nd…The NBC Today show from New York.

October 4th and 5th…The SRV Ride and Concert, Dallas, TX. According to Carl, Tallan will perform there,  but also will be leading the parade in a motorcycle side car.

October 11th…Casio Music Store, New Berlin, WI.

Roy